“Hello?” she called out. There was no response.
Mounted on the door was a metal hoop. Rome thought about pulling on it but her hands were full with the slabs. She considered setting the stack on the ground but just as she started stooping down, the door opened up and an Essessoni woman, half a foot taller than Rome with wavy dark hair, stood before her. She was quite pregnant from the look of her abdomen. Rome just blinked, staring at her.
“You must be Rome,” the woman said. “I’m Bonnie Mullen. Come on in.”
Of course, in Rome’s Evolution, she learned how to speak to the blanket community and forged a peace with them such that all the people of Deucado never had to fear them again. However, by that time, the trellises had become ubiquitous, like shutters today, and an expected part of the landscape. It was also funny that Rome had no clue what a door knocker was for. I guess because a Vuduri always knows who is at the door.
More on Bonnie tomorrow.
Entry 4-271: September 23, 2016
Ray, Rei, Rey, Rae 1
Many people have asked me how I decided to name my characters, especially my heroine, Rome and my hero, Rei. Rei's name is spelled funny and people that do not know how to pronounce it often say his name like rye as in rye bread. It got so bad that eventually, I had to figure out his "real" name, I came up with Reinard, so I could justify how to pronounce it.
The truth of the matter is, I always knew it was pronounced Ray because that is my father's name and Bierak is just a mangling of my Dad's (and my) last name. So Rei was always named after my father. I had a moment of panic when Star Wars VII came out and the heroine's name was Rey. I was afraid they were going to spell it my way. But then she was a she so I would have sworn that the woman's version should be spelled Rae. Oh well, I used a non-standard spelling too so who am I to judge?
Which brings me to Bonnie Mullen. If there was ever a woman smitten with Rei Bierak, this is the one. We first met her, albeit briefly, in the middle section of Rome's Revolution. This was the total extent of their interaction the first time:
Rei saw two people that he knew. He walked over to one of them, Bonnie Mullen, and kneeled down beside her.
“Hey, Bonnie,” he said.
“Hey, Rei,” Bonnie replied, smiling weakly. “Where were you?”
Rei sighed. “Out there,” he said, pointing over his shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“My back is killing me,” Bonnie said, grimacing.
“Yeah,” Rei answered. “That happens a lot. Did you get a pill?”
“Yeah, some old guy gave me one.”
“It’ll help soon. Did everybody make it?”
Bonnie looked down. “Almost everybody,” she said. “Some of the caskets in the front of the ship got cracked, a couple got punctured by micrometeorites.”
But in The Ark Lords, we get a much better view of Bonnie's personality. Like many of the Essessoni, she is hyper-aggressive and Rome is not really prepared to deal with it:
“You must be Rome,” the woman said. “I’m Bonnie Mullen. Come on in.”
“Thank you,” Rome replied as she straightened up and followed the woman into the house. Rome looked around. In no way did it resemble her own home. It was furnished with lots of cane-tree wood furniture. It looked rustic.
“Just set those down on the table,” Bonnie said, pointing into the dining area. “Were you able to retrieve any of the contents? I told Rei that our reader was busted.”
Rome entered the dining room and walked over to the table. She gently set the pile down on the table then turned to face Bonnie. “Yes,” she replied. “We were able to build a new one. You are welcome to use it at any time.
“Thanks,” Bonnie said, coming over to where Rome was standing. “As the colony’s historian, I’ve been pretty feeble around here without one. I’ve begged and begged but nobody seemed interested in fixing it. I think I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Very good,” Rome said. “I really appreciate you loaning those to me.”
“Oh, it’s no bother,” Bonnie said, running her hand over the top of the slabs. “Without a reader, they were kind of useless. Plus it was Rei asking. I’d do anything for Rei,” she said in a come-hither voice.
Rome cocked her head. “You know Rei well?” she asked.
“Oh, honey,” Bonnie said. “Everybody knows Rei. He’s what you’d call the pick of the litter.” She stopped and regarded Rome. “You seem a little small but you certainly are pretty enough. If you ever get tired of him, you be sure to let me know.”
Rome did not understand what Bonnie was referring to but she began to get the oddest sensation. “You are cesa, married to Edgar, no?” She pointed to Bonnie’s abdomen.
“Yes but Edgar, well, he’s ordinary. Rei is… He’s dreamy. I’d swap with you any time.”
Pretty transparent, huh? Bonnie doesn't know when to let up. You'll see that in the second part.
Entry 4-272: September 24, 2016
The Baby Factory
As we saw yesterday, Bonnie Mullen was not shy about telling Rome that she was attracted to Rei. The whole concept of infidelity was foreign to Rome. The Vuduri did not marry but the mandasurte did. Their ceremony was called cesa and wasn't a marriage as much as it was a life-long commitment to one another. So the idea that one would be linked to another but lust after someone else was incomprehensible. I'll let Rome explain it:
Rome felt very uncomfortable. “I don’t understand. Isn’t Edgar the one for you?”
“I was assigned to him, if that’s what you’re asking,” Bonnie said. “I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“I had no choice in the matter either. Rei is my Asborodi Cimponeti, my, my kindred spirit. We were destined to be together. Is that what you mean?” Rome asked with a bit of uncertainty.
“Ha,” Bonnie exhaled. “Don’t I wish?” She shook her head. “It wasn’t fate. It was the mission architects. I was selected as Edgar’s mate. End of story. I’m not too wild about it but we have to do what we have to do.” She patted her stomach. “This is my second time. First one was a miscarriage. So we had to start all over again. I didn’t really want to.” Bonnie looked about the dining room and shrugged.
“I don’t understand,” Rome said. “For Vuduri, when it is time to breed, our mate is selected for us by the Overmind. But you, you are Essessoni. From what I have observed, you have free will, do you not?”
“This is the real world, honey,” Bonnie said. “We have no free will. The women on this mission, we were all assigned mates and they called them our husbands. It was the price we paid for being allowed on the ship. Our duty. We do it. I’m a baby factory, that’s all.” She shrugged again.
Rome took a deep breath. Try as she might, none of what Bonnie was saying made any sense to her. She decided to change the subject. “OMCOM says there’s one slab missing. He said the full set consists of 20 slabs and Rei only gave me 19. Do you know what happened to the final slab?”
Bonnie looked at her with a funny expression on her face. “That’s all there are, I think,” she said.
Rome pressed the issue. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“Pretty sure.” Bonnie looked at the door. “I’ll ask Edgar when he gets home.” She snapped her fingers. “I know! Why don’t you and your handsome husband join us for dinner tonight? If there is another slab, we’ll get it for you. If not, well, at least the four of us will have a nice meal together.”
Was that right? That women be assigned to men on a journey to the stars? I guess for the first generation, it was the only practical way. There was no time for romantic love. They had to make babies. Oh well. Tomorrow, Rome and Rei come for dinner.
Entry 4-273: September 25, 2016
Ray, Rei, Rey, Rae 2
As we saw yesterday, Bonnie Mullen clearly lusted after Rei Bierak, the love of Rome's life. Rome was so naive, she thought nothing of accepting Bonnie's invitation to dinne
r. You and I would know better but this is the 35th century and in the world of The Ark Lords, anything can and will happen. Let's look in to this fateful and seemingly innocent social occasion:
Precisely at six, Rei and Rome approached the Mullens’ house. Rome was dressed in a traditional Vuduri white jumpsuit. Rei wore his standard brown shirt, tan slacks and boots. He was carrying a linen bag in his left hand.
“Won’t you please tell me what’s in the bag?” Rome begged for the third time.
“Nope,” Rei said. “I want you to be surprised along with Bonnie and Edgar.” He reached up, lifted the knocker and let it fall with a clang.
“Hmm. So that’s what it’s for,” Rome observed. “I thought that might be it but I wasn’t sure.”
“Well, if we were Vuduri, they’d already know we were here,” Rei said, chuckling at his own private joke. “But we’re not so they don’t. This is the Essessoni low tech version of an alert.”
They heard footsteps approach and the door opened.
“Hello, you two. Come on in,” Bonnie said. As soon as they entered the house, Bonnie threw her arms around Rei and hugged him for an uncomfortably long time, pressing her enlarged stomach tightly against him.
“Oh boy, you smell good,” Bonnie said, nuzzling his neck.
“Hi Bonnie,” Rei said, pulling free. He thought about saying more but decided against it.
“Edgar?” Bonnie called out. “They’re here.”
“Yo,” came a man’s voice. Edgar Mullen strode into the room, raising his arm in greeting. “Bierak, it’s been a while.” Edgar was shorter than Rei and stockier. He had a full head of hair which was just graying a bit around the temples.
“Yeah, Edgar, hi” Rei said, shaking his hand.
“So this is Rome?” Edgar asked, seemingly surprised. “Last time I saw her was the day we were going to attack the vooks, I mean, the Vuduri. She was rather preggers as I recall.” Edgar inspected her top to bottom. “You sure are a looker up close,” he said, leeringly.
“A looker?” Rome asked.
“He means you’re beautiful, honey,” Bonnie threw in.
“Er, thank you,” Rome said, sidling up a little closer to Rei.
Even Rome can tell that these are not nice people. You will see that in just a bit.
Entry 4-274: September 26, 2016
Wine World 1
Yesterday, we saw Rei and Rome arrive at the Mullen's house with Rei carrying a linen bag in his left hand. He wouldn't tell Rome what it was. I'll give you a hint. I love wine. I couldn't bear the thought of the little world of Deucado going without. So I waved my hands and magically, well take a look:
Rei spoke up, trying to break the mood. “Maybe this will help. My mother told me you never go to someone’s house empty handed,” he said. He held out the linen bag which Bonnie gratefully received. She pulled out a bottle.
From its distinctive shape, there was no question what she held in her hand. Bonnie’s eyes lit up. “Wine!?” Bonnie exclaimed. “How did you…”
“What is wine? I have never heard the word before,” Rome interjected.
“Fonhi,” Rei offered. “Fermented grapes. It’s got alcohol in it.”
“Oh, I’m familiar with that,” Rome said, relieved to finally know the nature of the package. “We had something similar. My father’s people would drink kefir at family affairs, which is made from fermented coconut juice.”
Edgar walked over and snatched the bottle away from Bonnie and ran his hand lovingly over the label. “I haven’t had a drink in, like, fourteen centuries,” he said. “Thanks.” He shoved the bottle back toward Bonnie. “Here,” he said, “figure out a way to open this up. Make it quick!”
“Of course,” Bonnie replied submissively. She took the bottle and left the room.
Actually, it wasn't my mother who told me never show up empty-handed. That is my wife's thing. But remember that Edgar and the gang hadn't had anything to drink in 14 centuries. I would say their alcohol tolerance would be pretty low. Wait until you see what Edgar did as soon as he had a glass or two in him. It isn't pretty. More on that tomorrow.
Entry 4-275: September 27, 2016
Wine World 2
Yesterday, Rome and Rei showed up at the Mullen's house. Rei had brought with him one of the first bottles of wine ever made on Deucado. I have no clue if it was any good or not. However, beggars cannot be choosers and Edgar hadn't had a drink in 14 centuries. So Edgar dispatched Bonnie to find a way to open the bottle and serve it quick. Here is how it went:
Edgar walked over to the overstuffed chair and sat down. “Take a load off,” he said. Rome and Rei sat down together on the love seat.
“So how’d you make out with the data slabs?” Edgar asked, stretching his neck to see into the kitchen. “Bonnie told me you returned them already.”
“It went very smoothly,” Rome replied. “MINIMCOM was able to construct a reader rather easily. He then downloaded the entire contents of the slabs into OMCOM’s memory banks. It…” Rome stopped speaking as Bonnie returned to the room carrying a small tray which held the open bottle of wine and four glasses. One glass already had water in it. She set the tray on the coffee table and filled each of the other three glasses with a modest amount of wine. She handed one glass each to Rome, Rei and Edgar then she set the bottle back on the tray. After sitting down on the sofa, she picked up her glass of water and raised her arm, tilting the glass toward Rei.
“Here’s to Rei Bierak,” she said, cheerfully. “Always full of surprises!”
Rei laughed. He lifted his glass as well.
Rome looked around the room. “Aren’t we supposed to clink the glasses?” she asked. “That’s what you taught me.”
“You can just raise them,” Rei replied. “It works the same.” Rei and Edgar took a nice swallow from their glasses.
“Sorry I can’t join you,” Bonnie said. “Gotta stick with water. Second trimester and all.”
“I understand,” Rei said.
Rome sniffed the glass then took a small sip. “Mmm, this is delicious,” she remarked. “I’ve never tasted anything like it before. Where did it come from?”
“We found a good spot for a vineyard near the edge of the project, east of where they’re building the resort city of Ur,” Rei answered, waving his hand toward the window. “Some of the boys wanted to try their hand at growing grapes and making wine. They’ve been working at it for over a year. This is from their first full run. It’s a little strong, though. Almost port. They put too much sugar in it.”
So the wine wasn't great as it could be. But it was rather strong. When some people drink it makes them nicer. Others get mean. Edgar got, well, more on that in a day or two.
Entry 4-276: September 28, 2016
Synthehol
Anyone who has watched any of the variants of Star Trek is familiar with the substance known as synthehol. This is just an amalgam of the words synthetic and alcohol. The idea was that this substance had all the taste and smell of "regular" alcohol but would not get you intoxicated or poison you. My question is: what's the point? Other than the bite, pure vodka or even grain alcohol has no flavor. If you are going to drink and there is no alcohol, you are drinking a Shirley Temple or O'Dooles or even lemonade. So the concept of synthehol is just plain stupid.
We saw yesterday and the day before that Edgar Mullen was slogging down Rei's gift of the first bottle of wine produced on Deucado and he was drinking it primarily because it had alcohol. It was certainly not because he was looking for the flavor. He wanted to get drunk. Now I'm not saying everybody drinks all the time to get drunk because then everybody would end up as raging alcoholics. However, there are so many positive effects of drinking in moderation that without alcohol, again, I say, what is the point.
Recently, my stepson Matt sent me an article about a scientist by the name of Professor David Nutt who thinks he has invented a synthetic version of alcohol whi
ch he calls alcosynth. However, unlike Star Trek's synthehol, his version absolutely does give you a buzz but side-steps the deleterious effects of real alcohol such as hangovers, nausea or alcohol poisoning. The substance is a far-distant cousin of valium and Professor Nutt thinks that by 2050 alcosynth might replace all alcohol.
I, for one, reject his statement. Natural fermentation and alcohol have been around for millions of years. Man has evolved with alcohol readily available and our systems have developed to consume it. If you don't overdo it, you don't wake up with a hangover. I know some people used to take Quaaludes (methaqualone) to get a drunk-like effect. If you ever saw the movie The Wolf of Wall Street you'll understand. The Quaalude scene was pretty funny.
The bottom line is this: alcohol is a natural substance and if used in moderation, can lead to positive things. I, personally, am not interested in synthehol or alcosynth or whatever fakakta substance science fiction writers or actual scientists come up with. So I gave my characters the real thing.
By the way, the following image was hand-painted by my extremely talented wife, Denise. Go to DeniseCoopermanArtist.com to view her other paintings.
Entry 4-277: September 29, 2016
Vooks and slurs
In the world of Rome's Revolution and The Ark Lords, everybody is politically correct. At least that is the case before the Essessoni showed up. That particular group brought with them all their prejudices and ill-mannered speech. The Essessoni are certainly not very politically correct. In fact, the Essessoni, because of all the pressures on Earth before they left, are mostly hyper-aggressive, boorish individuals without manners or "couth" so it is not surprising that as soon as they got to Deucado, they started coming up with stereotyping and racial profiling.